Linda's lie
by Aaunty Pasta
Summary: When Linda was healing after being shot, she got a visit from a pretty red-head who just happened to have her husband's eyes and smile. Will she be able to tell him who the girl really is or will the secret follow her to the grave?


Linda's Lies

When Linda was healing after being shot, she got a visit from a pretty red-head who just happened to have her husband's eyes and smile. Will she be able to tell him who the girl really is or will the secret follow her to the grave?

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_ Dear Danny, _Linda wrote under the date. _I have been lying to you. I know about the fling you had before you met me with the girl from Ireland. You remember Kaitlyn from County Cork? You told me about her so long ago. It seems she died last summer. Her daughter came to see me. She has your eyes and smile…_

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Linda lay on the couch a day after being released from the hospital. Danny and the boys had been hovering so much they were driving her crazy. Finally, she broke and ordered them to leave and let her get some rest. When the doorbell rang she hoped it wasn't them trying to come back before it was time.

She pulled the door open with such force that she startled the woman standing on the other side.

"I'm sorry if I'm bothering you," the woman replied with a heavy Irish accent as she caught her breath. "But are you Linda Reagan?"

"Yes," Linda said breathlessly. "I'm sorry for startling you. My husband and sons have just been hovering."

"Are you ill?"

Linda shook her head. "I was shot a few weeks ago and got out of the hospital last night and now they're worried. What can I do for you?"

"Might I come in, Mrs. Reagan?" she asked.

"Sure," Linda said and stepped aside. There was something very familiar about the young woman. Something that made Linda want to trust her.

The woman turned to face Linda once she was in and Linda had closed the door. "First of all," she began. "My name is Reagan Keira MacKenzie. But I go by Rea."

Linda straightened as she put two and two together. "Do you think that my husband Danny is your father?"

"It is completely possible," Rea replied with a smile. "You are very perceptive."

"I have so many questions," Linda said. "Danny told me years ago that he'd had a… thing with a girl working at, uh, Jimmy Quinn's. Out in Montauk."

"That's right," Rae nodded. "My mother came to New York in the early part of the 1990s for the job in Montauk. During that summer, she met a fine young man and they consummated the relationship. At the end of the summer, she went back to Ireland but she didn't know she was pregnant."

"Why are you coming to see me?" Linda asked.

"I'm still not sure," the girl said. "Mum died last summer and I found this photograph…" she stopped to pull it out of her purse and handed it to Linda. "It's a long story, but the gist of it is, when she came back to tell him about me, he had met you and she didn't want to mess it up." Linda handed the photo back. "He looked very happy and very much in love. She didn't want to spoil that for him."

"So she didn't tell him," Linda said. "Because of me."

"I'm not angry," Rea said. "If that's what you're thinking. I've had a good life. Mum married the son of a diplomat and moved with him to Boston just in time for my birth. Then he got a job with the consulate in Ireland and we moved back there." She paused to tuck the photo back into her purse. "I'm marrying an American who had come to Dublin to study. We're planning to start our family as soon as possible and I need a full medical history so I began to look into things."

"I can certainly help you with that," Linda said. "I can introduce you, too, if you'd like."

"While I would like that," she began. "I don't think it would be necessary. I like my life. It's a good one. I suspect that him knowing would be disruptive to your life. You seem like such a lovely woman. I don't want to do that to you."

"I don't know if I could keep that secret," Linda said. She was on the verge of tears, and this young woman's generosity was touching. "We have two sons. Your brothers. Wouldn't you want to get to know them?"

Rea looked at her feet. "I… I'm not sure I want to disrupt their lives that way, either."

"What if we didn't tell them?" Linda suggested. "What if we just say…" she stopped to think. "… you're a CNA sent from the hospital to check on me."

Rea seemed that she was about to cry as well. "I don't know," she said. "I don't think I'm ready for that just yet."

Linda decided to let it go—for now. "Have you done DNA yet?" she asked.

"I would," Rea told her. "But I have nothing to compare it to."

Linda thought for a minute. "Stay here," she said with a touch to the woman's arm. She ran upstairs and pulled the wad of hair from Danny's comb and ran back downstairs to the kitchen with it. She dug into a drawer and pulled out a zip top bag and put it in. Then she wrote with a marker on the outside her cell phone number.

"This is from his hairbrush," she said. "When the test comes back call me and if it is a match, I'll make sure the pertinent information gets to you. And if you ever change your mind about meeting him, you can call then, too."

"Thank you," Rea said. "I'll do that."

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Linda lied when they asked if anything had happened while they were gone. And when, a few weeks later, she received a call from Rea affirming what they had discussed, she said it was nothing. And when Rea sent an invitation to her wedding, Linda lied again, saying it was a daughter of a colleague at the hospital. They went, and met Rea and her husband Ian Sullivan and Linda had someone take a picture of Rea and Danny with her phone and without his knowledge per Rea's wishes.

Rea gave Linda a copy of the picture she had shown her when they met weeks before, and Linda sent the picture of her with Danny. The lies compounded until Linda felt like she would burst. Finally, she sat down while Danny was at work and the boys away at school, and wrote him a letter.

At the top of the page, she wrote the date. Then she had to think what to say and she started to write.

_ Dear Danny, _Linda wrote under the date. _I have been lying to you. I know about the fling you had before you met me with the girl from Ireland. You remember Kaitlyn from County Cork? You told me about her so long ago. It seems she died last summer. Her daughter came to see me. She has your eyes and smile. She also has half your DNA. I kinda snitched some hair from your comb so she could have it confirmed. Congratulations. It's a girl._ She stopped to look at the photo from the wedding of Rea with Danny. Danny was all smiles, but Rea looked at Danny with a look that said she knew it was the right thing. Linda still wasn't sure, so she went back to her letter. _I am putting with this letter a picture of her on her wedding day while you just happened to be standing at her side. She is a wonderful young woman. She does not want to disrupt our life together. That's why she didn't come to you and the same reason her mother didn't tell you. You see, Kaitlyn came back to the states to tell you she was pregnant, only to find that you had moved on and found happiness with me. She didn't want to mess that up and so kept the secret. Instead, she married the son of a diplomat and moved to Boston where the baby was born. She named her Reagan, for her father's family. For your family. Even though Rea doesn't want to let you know about this for all the reasons I still can't understand, I'm going to find excuses to introduce her to your, to our, family. That way, when she does get up the nerve to let you know, it won't be as hard to get to know her._

_ Being shot scared me though. I want you to hear these things from me. That's why I am writing this letter. If something ever happens to me again and it's for good, I want you to know. I don't want you to be blindsided. And I still love you…_

_I love you most…_

_Love you forever,_

_Linda_

She put the letter and the two pictures in the envelope and wrote Danny's name on the front. After trying to decide where to hide it, she came to the conclusion that the only place she could hide it where he wouldn't find it prematurely was to have it safely ensconced in a safe deposit box. Once she had done so, she slipped the key into one of their photo albums.

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"You say Jimmy Quinn's like I should know the place," Baez said.

"Well, it's not just a place—it's a legend, Jimmy Quinn's," Danny explained then went on. "The original one's in Montauk. His kids opened a few over here in the '90s. But great steaks, big drinks, and—let me tell you something—the cute little Irish help in the summertimes does not hurt business."

"Spoken like one who knows," Baez said with a sly look at her partner.

"Well, there was redheaded Kaitlin from County Cork," Danny told her with an almost dreamy look in his eye. "For one magical summer in the last century."

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Rea Keira Sullivan wiped her son's brow with a cloth as he cried from the pain. Cancer was a big scary word, and Brice had it. The pain of the Chemo tortured them all, but what tortured Rea, was the fact that no one in her family or Ian's families was a match for the bone marrow transplant he would need when the chemo was over, so Rea now had to do something she never thought she would have to do. Contact her real and genetic father.

When she returned to the address she had visited before, she was horrified to find it gone. A neighbor said it had burned to the ground and that the family had stayed with Danny's father for awhile. But then, Rea was upset to be told that Linda had died. Killed in a helicopter crash not long after the house had burned.

She buried her face in her hands. "I'd hoped that you'd help me soften the blow," she said.

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Danny held the album, burned around the edges but salvaged from his burned house. "One year," he said to the stone in front of him, just one in the garden of stone around him. "It seems like forever. And one day at a time, life goes on." He spun the ring on his finger. "But I still miss you. And the boys miss you. And the family misses you." He sniffed. "Even though the table still seems so empty without you, the number around it has gone back up to nine." He snorted. "Jamie got engaged. To his partner, Eddie." He waved his empty hand. "I know, I know. You called it."

He opened the book. "Remember these?" he asked. "Of course you do. This is one of the few things we were able to salvage from the house." He shook his head. "I can't believe these same kids are so grown up. Jack's graduating. And Sean? You'd have been so proud of him. He won that essay contest you pushed him to enter. He didn't want to go get the award, but I made him and now he's glad he did." Danny took a breath. "I've got to go now babe. We're having a picnic for Memorial Day. I love you…" he paused as if waiting for her to say 'I love you more.' He took a breath, trying not to cry. "I love you most."

As he stepped back from the grave, something fell out of the book, hitting his foot. He stopped and searched the grass until he found it. Puzzled, he realized that it was a key for a safe deposit box. "Why would you have a safe deposit box?" he wondered then looked at the gravestone. "What were you hiding from me?"

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The bank attendant set the small box on the table in front of Danny. _With the miniscule size of the box, there must not be much inside_, Danny thought. He pushed the key into the lock and turned it. He took a deep breath before he opened it. Inside was an envelope. A regular business-sized envelope.

He took the envelope and thanked the attendant. He slid the envelope in the inside pocket of his suit jacket so that he could read it later. Much later. Like when he was alone later. So he would be free to cry if he needed to.

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"Danny Reagan?" the thick Irish accent said.

Danny looked up to find the woman familiar but he couldn't place her.

"I'm not sure you remember me," she said. "I'm Rea Sullivan. You were at my wedding a few years ago."

The memory clicked into place. "Yeah," Danny responded. "Beautiful wedding. Had my wife in tears."

"I was sorry to hear of her passing," Rea went on. "She kept something for me and now I find that I'm needin' it." She glanced around the room. "Is there someplace we can talk in private?"

"Sure," Danny said. He led her in the direction of the box. "Let's go over to the interrogation room."

He let her go in first then followed, closing the door behind them.

"I believe you knew my mother," she said as she pulled out a copy of the photograph and handed it to him.

"Oh yeah," he said as he took it. "That's Kaitlyn." He handed it back. "Very sweet girl. How is she?"

"She passed a few years ago," Rea told him. "It was not long after that that I met your wife."

"What was she…," Danny began then stopped, remembering the letter he had retrieved a few days before. It was still in his jacket. He pulled it out. "Would this have something to do with what you left with her?"

"Possibly," she replied. "What I left was a secret."

"You can't tell me then?" Danny asked.

Rea shook her head. Linda was right, he could be dense. "Just open the envelope," she instructed as she sat down in one of the chairs at the table.

Danny sat across from her and slid his finger under the flap. Hesitantly, he tore the envelope open and pulled the photographs and note that were inside. "From your wedding," he said with a smile as he showed it to her. Then the smile melted away as he looked at the picture and the pieces began to fall in place. He pulled out the other photo, a copy of the one she had just showed him then looked up at her. "Are you sure?"

She nodded. "She told me she left this with you," Rea said. "We were friendly for awhile before Ian and I moved to DC to be near his family." She paused as he ran his hand over his head. "Before the baby came."

"There's a baby?"

"Perhaps you should read your wife's letter before we go any further," Rea said.

Danny took a deep breath and unfolded the sheet of paper. He read it through twice, then a third time before looking up at her. "Why now?" he asked quietly.

She pulled out her phone and brought up a picture of her son, taken just before she left the hospital the day before. "This is him," she said as she showed him the picture. "He has Leukemia. He needs a bone marrow transplant and no one in my family or Ian's family is a match." She watched as he looked at the picture on her phone, trying to reconcile everything. "I was hopin' there might be one in my father's family." She swallowed. "In your family."

Danny put his head in his hands. "What the hell…?" he whispered. "How do I tell my family?"

She looked on the verge of tears. "This would be one reason Mum didn't want to tell you."

"This," he said. "You… must have turned Linda's world upside down!"

"I'm sure it did," she said. "But she didn't let it show." She sighed. "I came lookin' for a medical history. She gave that to me. Maybe I did want to know you and your family. But she gave that to me, too."

"How?!"

"She introduced me around as a colleague," Rea said. "I don't think anyone even suspected."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that," Danny said with a smile. "We are, after all, a family of cops."

"So you're sayin' that you knew?"

"I don't know," he said. "But now that I think about it, I suspect my father does."

"How do you know?" Rea asked.

Danny took a breath. "He's the Police Commissioner. He knows everything."

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It was not often that Danny was as quiet as he had been at this week's Sunday dinner. Finally, Frank looked up at him. "Danny, what's wrong?"

Danny looked around the table as the family stopped what they were doing and looked at him. He cleared his throat and pulled the envelope Linda had left from his pocket. "Linda left this for me in a safe deposit box," he said as he handed it to his father.

Frank took the folded letter and opened it, skimming it before looking sharply at Danny. "You sure you want to share this with the entire family?"

"Yes," he said simply. "Did you know?"

"I suspected," Frank replied. "She introduced her as a friend."

That made everyone at the table more curious. "Who?" Jack asked.

Danny sat up straight and looked Jack in the eye. "Your sister."

Jack looked puzzled. "Let me read this," Frank said. Jack nodded and listened with the rest of the family as Frank read the letter from Linda aloud. When he finished, the silence was deafening.

Finally, Danny cleared his throat. "She visited me at the precinct Friday," he said then held a hand up to stop the response he was sure he'd get. "I hadn't read the letter yet and didn't know. She came to me because her son…" He swallowed. "…has leukemia. He needs a bone marrow transplant but there are no matches in her family."

"So she came to us," Frank stated. "Her father's family."

Danny, unable to speak, could only nod.

The shock around him was almost a living thing. As he looked around, he could see sadness, confusion and shock in their faces. In the faces of his sons, he also saw anger.

"It happened the summer before I ever knew Linda," he explained to them.

"They could have come to you sooner," Jack burst. "We had a right to know! _YOU_ had a right to know!"

"I know that," Danny said. "But we can't change the past. We can only shape the future."

"What do you want from us?" Henry asked.

"I don't know what I want," Danny said. "But her son… his name is Brice… needs a bone marrow transplant. He needs for us… all of us, to get tested as soon as possible." He looked at his sons. "Don't punish an innocent child for something that I did and his mother did… and your mother did."

He looked from one to the other. The boys looked disturbed, but both nodded. Jack had one question. "When?"

"She set it up for tomorrow morning," Danny replied then looked around the table. "We can go as a family. All of us."

Nikki was the first to respond. "I'm looking forward to meeting my cousin," she said.

Erin shook her head, the surprise evident on her face. "I can spare a half hour around nine," she said. Slowly, the rest of the family agreed.

"I am not likely to be a match for your grandson," Eddie put in. "But I'll be there anyway… maybe I'll be a match for someone else."

Grandson. Danny had a grandson. All activity at the table stopped and the atmosphere turned to one of amusement. Danny was a grandfather.

Sean slapped his father's shoulder. "Well, grandpa," he said. "Will nine o'clock be good for you? Or is that going to be too early?"

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"Any reason you chose this particular hospital to do this at?" Ian Sullivan asked his wife, Rea.

"Because it seemed right," Rea replied. "Linda worked here. I think she's here in spirit."

"Then I think it's right, too," Ian said. "What time?"

"They'll be here at nine."

"It's almost that, now," he noted. Rea took a nervous breath and Ian watched her carefully. "Nervous?"

Rea nodded. "I don't know what I'm going to say to them," she said. "Least of all, my brothers."

"You have at least two things in common with them," he told her.

"What is that?"

"You have all lost your mothers…," he began.

"…And we share the same father," Rea finished. "A place to start, I suppose."

Ian nodded and stood to look down the hall. As he watched, Danny turned the corner flanked by his sons, father and grandfather. Not far behind was the rest of the family. Danny came to a stop in front of Ian and Rea. "Hey," he said awkwardly by way of greeting.

Rea nodded. "It's good to see you again," she said then turned to Ian. "You remember my husband?"

"Of course," Danny said as he gave Ian a firm handshake. "Good to see you again."

Ian looked at the rest of the family as they filled the hall. "I hadn't expected you to have such a large family," he said. "Nor did I expect you to bring them all."

"Family is important to us," Danny told him. "And Rea, no matter how she's come to be in our lives, is family." He turned to Frank and began to introduce everyone, each shaking hands with the pair until her reached his sons. "Sean, Jack," he said as they stepped forward. "This is Reagan MacKenzie Sullivan. She's your half-sister. Rea, my sons, your half-brothers, Jack and Sean."

"I don't know whether to hug you or just shake your hands," Rea said. "I was expecting two young boys and here I have two fine young men for brothers."

"I'm not exactly sure what to say, either," Jack said as he held out a hand. Rea grasped it and Sean reached out to take her other hand. "Except maybe welcome to the family."

Sean smiled as he gently squeezed her hand. "I always wanted a sister," he told her. "Of course I'd always expected to have a younger sister rather than older."

Rea smiled at him with tears in her eyes. "I want to thank you," she began then looked around at all of them. "All of you, for doing this. I know circumstances being what they are…"

"This is something we do as a family," Henry interrupted. "For family."

Rea nodded as Ian gripped her shoulder. "And we are very thankful," he said as the nurse approached.

"Who's first?" she asked.

Danny stepped forward. "I think that maybe I should be first."

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Danny tapped the pen quickly against the desk top, attracting the attention of his partner as she sat in the desk across from him. Maria watched the tapping pen until it stopped then went back to her paperwork. When it started up again and didn't stop, Maria sighed and stood, grabbing the pen away from him. "OK," she said. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Danny said as he checked his cell phone again. "Nothing at all."

"I know you," Maria said. "You're nervous about something."

Danny nodded. "You're right."

When Danny wasn't forthcoming, Maria moved over to his side of the desks. "And?"

"And nothing," Danny replied. "Just family stuff."

"Family stuff," Maria nodded. "Did someone die?" She gasped. "Is someone sick?"

Danny looked up at her. "Yeah, someone's sick," he told her then he took a breath. "My grandson's got leukemia."

"Jack or Sean," Maria began then stopped. "Wait, what?" Her mouth dropped open. "Grandson?"

"You remember awhile back when we were investigating that Irish girl that got hit and I witnessed it?" Danny asked her.

"Yeah?" Maria nodded.

"And I mentioned the girl from county cork?" Maria nodded again so Danny went on.

"She had a baby," Danny said. "My baby. My daughter."

Maria's jaw dropped. "And she came to you finally? Are you sure she's even yours?"

"I'm sure she's mine," Danny told her. "She came to Linda when she got married. She needed a medical history." He shook his head slowly. "She had just lost her mom and wanted to know my family without disrupting our lives. So she went to Linda about it."

"Linda knew?"

"Yeah," Danny told her. "Linda knew. Now this girl, my daughter, has come to me because her son, my grandson, has leukemia. He's going to need bone marrow when the chemo is over. So far there hasn't been a match. The family got tested…"

"The whole family?" Maria asked in shock.

Danny nodded. "Even Eddie got tested even though it's unlikely she'd match," Danny said. "I'm waiting for Rea to call with the results."

"Rea?"

"Her mother named her Reagan," Danny told her. "After my family."

"I wish you'd said something sooner," Maria said.

Danny looked up at her again. "Why?"

"We could have organized a larger testing," she replied. "I'm sure that a lot of people would have volunteered to be tested. Might have found a match in the general population. Maybe we could have found matches for others."

Danny nodded. "Go ahead and organize it," he told her. "If there isn't a match in the family, maybe we can find one in our police family. If there is a match in the family, it'll still do some good."

Maria nodded. "But let me know either way, OK?"

Danny nodded and she went off to speak to the sergeant. Danny began to tap his pen again until his phone rang and he answered it. "Reagan," he answered.

"Danny," came the thick Irish accent of his daughter. "There are three matches in your family."

"Our family," Danny reminded her. "Who?"

"You and your father are both matches," she went on. "But the closest match is your son, Sean."

"That's great," Danny replied. "I'll let everyone know. Rea?"

"Yes?"

"We are your family," he gently reminded her. "You don't have to call me dad, nor my father grandpa, but he's your grandfather and Sean is you brother. We're family. I think all of us showing up yesterday would be evident."

Rea was quiet for a long time. When she finally spoke, her voice was full of tears. "I did not expect to be welcomed so whole heartedly into your family," she said.

"That's just how we are," Danny said.

"I'm not sure what to say," she replied.

"Then don't say," Danny said. "Do something."

"Do what?"

"Every Sunday," Danny began. "Every Sunday, without fail, the Reagan family gathers together to have Sunday dinner. Four generations. You and Ion come this Sunday. Bring Brice if you can and make it five generations."

"I don't want to intrude," Rea said.

"You're family," Danny insisted. "You will NOT be intruding. We'll make room."

He could almost hear her mind debating it. Finally, she spoke. "Tomorrow is Brice's last treatment," she said. "By Sunday, he should be feeling better." There was a pause. "I only think it's fair to introduce him to his family… to the people who will be saving his life."

"And afterwards, I want to take you somewhere important," Danny finished. "I'll see you Sunday."

"See you Sunday," Rea replied.

"That went well," Rea said as she walked through the graveyard with Danny as her husband followed with their son.

"So you enjoyed meeting the family?" Danny asked.

"I did," she replied. "They are a great bunch of people."

"And they're yours, now," Danny went on. "You know that, right?"

Rea nodded and adjusted the bouquet of flowers in her arms. Danny stopped her at the row of gravestones. All of them read Reagan. Danny pointed to the first one in line. Betty Reagan. "That is my grandmother," he pointed out. "Pop's wife." Rea nodded as Danny moved to the next one. Mary Reagan. "This is my mom," he said then pointed to her. "Your grandmother."

Rea smiled and turned to the stones. She pulled two flowers from the bouquet and put one on each stone before stepping back. "It will be nice to know you," she said. "Through your children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren."

Danny moved to the next stone. "This is my brother," he seemed to choke up a minute then went on. "Joe was a cop. Killed in the line of duty." He paused, trying to swallow the anger. "By his own partner."

Rea looked up sharply at the combination of anger and sadness in Danny's voice. He took a breath and calmed. Rea took a flower from the bouquet and placed it on Joe's grave. "Somehow," she began. "I believe I will get to know you best in the coming weeks. It sounds like you were and still are a larger than life presence in this family I suddenly find myself part of."

Next, Danny led her a few rows over and stopped before one final stone. Linda Rose Reagan. "I think you remember my wife," Danny said, choked up.

Rea knelt down and placed the bouquet on the ground before the stone. "I was glad to have known you," she said as she ran her fingers over the stone. "I'm sorry I asked you to lie for me. I should have just let you introduce me when I came to you." She looked up at Danny. "Then I could have known my father sooner. And I could have known you better, too." She looked back to the stone. "My step-mother." She looked down at the ground. "We had a back-up plan, Ion and I," she went on. "If there wasn't a match in this half of the family, we were trying for a second child to help save our first." She ran her hands across her belly. "We wanted you to be the first to know. I've just finished my first trimester."

Danny gasped then couldn't stop the tears any longer, letting them flow as he helped Rea to her feet. She hugged him tightly. "I was glad to know her," she said.

"I know," Danny replied. "But I'm glad you did get to know her. And I'm happy for you and Ion and Brice."

"Thank you," Rea replied. "I'm hopin' this little one gets to know your family from birth."

"We certainly will try," Danny pulled away and wiped at the tears. "There's one more thing that I want to tell you that I'm sure Linda would have been the first to say."

"What is that?"

"Welcome to the family," Danny said with a smile.


End file.
